Tours

Nealy missed the 8.00am bus as didn't hear my alarm clock go off at all! Must have completely crashed after that dreadful day yesterday. Thank God one of the guys in the dorm who was on the same bus as me woke me up, but not until 7.15 and it was a good 20 minute walk away to the hostel pick-up place. Made it in time though. If you miss a bus after pre-booking it, you have to wait 2 more days for the next bus and you can't book it - you have to go stand-by. If it's full, it's two more days (or of couse, get the train). So Jane, don't miss the bus ok? Was actaully quite glad to leave Paris for some French countryside. Straight to sleep on the bus however and missed the whole thing. Arrived in Tours about 1.00pm. Luxury! Room to myself in the hotel. Tours is quite pretty but not a lot to do apart from the Chateau tours. The quarters of the Old Town are very quaint and it is everything a small french village should be. Am glad I went there, as most people skip it. Saw the most beautiful gothic cathedral, and could quite happily have spent the afternoon in there as it was mercifully cool. They really knew how to build things back in the old medievil times.

Tours, if you can believe, was even hotter than Paris, and my room got up to 33C that evening. No fan or air-con but I think I am slowly aclimatising. I remember SE Asia was like this too and I did get used to it eventually, but after 7 years of daily air-conditioning in Tokyo the old sweat glands are getting a major work out. My skin looks great though!

Tourist Beaureu (sorry can't spell that word) was opposite my hotel and first thing next day, I decided to go to one chateau on my own in the morning before it got too hot, and then treat myself to a chateau tour for the afternoon, where at least you can sit in the air-conditioning for a bit and just listen to the guide. Chateau d'Amboise was very pretty - like a postcard. Perfect looking village surrounding the river. Got the train there and back on my own, (only just managing to make the 9.03 in time!), meeting a nice Spanish couple on the way. Got back in time for another supermarket lunch (ham, cheese, bagette, apricots, plums - all this yummy fresh fruit is so cheap!) and caught the tour for 1.10pm. 2 small mini-vans jam-packed with folks from all over the globe and 1 guide/translator who was driving the van behind us and talking into a microphone which was somehow connected to our van. Silly Italian couple sitting next to me who kept talking loudly over all the English so didn't catch a lot of it. Don't ya hate being a tourist sometimes?

They took us to the chateau's of Cheverny, Chombord and Fougeres. Fougeres had been ransacked during the French Revolution and it's huge cavernous rooms were basically empty. The home of Louis XIV and built about 1030 then added to over the years by various famous french aristocracy. English completely destroyed it during the 100 years war. The most impressive however was the privately owned Chombard, which had a lot of beautiful rooms, and still belonging to a family during from the 13th Century in the Loire Valley. They still kept hunting dogs on the ground, and the poor things were just baking in their pen. They kept climbing into their water fountain to cool off - quite a funny site. The grounds were the size of Central Park and no public allowed on them, so a lot of native animals (for the hunts). Trophy room packed wall to wall with deer antlers - horrible. How can someone shoot an animal like that?

The problem with all these chateau's is that it is so hard to imagine every-day life. I mean, I can imagine Marie Antoinnette, gracefully descending the white limestone carved spiral staircase, fan in hand and maids trailing behind, but what I just can't imagine, is Marie, naked in the morning, attempting to find her underwear, when there was absolutely no evidence of a closet anywhere! You know what I mean?

That evening, I broke the bank, and the diet, and had a lovely dinner in the Old Quarter of smoked salmon, roasted duck and fromage selection, followed by a fantastic chocolate mousse. So much for my diet ey?